helping others. the final push before the big day. >> complete bay area news coverage starts right now, this is ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 p.m. >> good evening. i am ken pritchett. >> frank and julie are off tonight. we start with a deadly day on the slopes. a snowboarder was killed in an avalanche. kevin oliver has the story. >> reporter: ski patrol raced down the hill where paramedics tried to save the man. the man was buried for 5 hours. his friends left in shock, said the man just moved back to the area and this was his first outing the of season. >> we are missing a guy. missing a guy but they didn't start looking till 2-3 hours later. >> the man was buried in 2 feet of snow. friends said he was snow

aboving when the snow broke -- snowboarding above it when the snow broke free. >> looking for him but they didn't find him. he was at the bottom. >> reporter: the ski patrol did a preliminary search. >> they did a courtesy search. concerned for safety reasons because of the unstable ice that is still up there. >> reporter: after more time passed and there was still no sign of the man search crews were called in. the resort was shut down. kevin oliver, ktvu channel 2 news. an accident on highway 84 shut down both lanes of traffic for an hour. we showed you this earlier. this happened after 4:00 p.m. this afternoon. it was reported as a head on collision.

it is unclear if there were injuries but it tied up traffic for a time. some are spending their christmas eve watching a levy on the peninsula after one day of flooding. ktvu's health and science editor john fowler live now with the beginnings of a levy repair. john? >> reporter: state crews have moved us back from the levy here anticipating that trucks will arrive here momentarily to begin sand bagging. this video now. you can see the creek is much comer than last -- calmer than last might. they worked fast to get this temporary fix underway. >> reporter: not fast enough for residents who lived through repeated flooding here. >> i am worried because it is supposed to rain tomorrow. >> reporter: homeowners cleared

mud and debris from the flood. >> like a big lake. lot of trees going down. garbage. >> reporter: the creek topped the levy. 7 homes damaged. several hundred people evacuated. >> having a levy failure here would be catastrophic. >> reporter: as you see that failure began last night. our cameras caught water bubbling through. today officials took an emergency survey. last night's creek flow was the third highest since the levy was built 82 years ago. >> not certified. not in good shape. they will start next year to rebuild the whole system. >> reporter: sand bagging will be the first step. they also plan a structure to minimize erosion. one home remains red tagged and

they are hoping the next storms will be weaker than the last. health and science editor john fowler, ktvu channel 2 news. a water main break kept crews busy this morning. the pipe burst around 9 hurt a.m., sending water -- 9:30 a.m. sending water gushing. officials say a thousand gallons a minute was rushing out. crews are keeping a close watch on a hillside in oakland. a small mudslide left debris on the streets, including rocks and tree branches. and we got rain around here. a bunch of rain yesterday. how are we doing for rainfall? what you will see here are a couple cities, santa rosa, san francisco, san jose, impressive

when you look at santa rosa, 172% of average. 143 in san francisco. last year at this time they were doing 50, 30% of average. we are doing really well. what is happening now? we are watching this area. it will move through the area as we get into tomorrow. most of the showers will start later in the day. not as heavy rain. not as much wind but there will be showers. i will tell you when it starts and ends and what you can expect. >> thank you. >> video, a driver had to be plucked after his truck was surrounded by raging waters near livermore. a chp helicopter crew was

called into rescue the man. you can tell it was dark. the chopper hovered over the truck to make the rescue. this happened about 9:00 last night. he was stranded in a creek. it was there for 2 hours. the pilot rested the left skid on the truck and the man was pulled aboard and was treated for hypothermia. crews spend today looking for a drunk driver who disappeared after jumping into the creek. the man was pulled over. he ran away, climbed a fence and jumped into the creek. san jose police are out tonight prepared to deal with domestic violence situations. robert handa reports, officers are ready to provide toys and comfort for kids caught in the

middle. >> the supply area looked more appropriate for santa's slayings. these toys were donated by dollar trees. but they won't be handed out randomly but given to children who really need the holiday cheer. >> we are seeing people at their worst. a lot of domestic violence around the holidays, we see frightened children. >> reporter: officers got a surprise, many of them participated in similar gift give aways before but tonight the dollar tree donations make it possible for officers to hand out whole bags. >> bag full of toys, kids we will see, they will have 2-3 brothers and sisters, share them. >> rewarding. to see the look on their face when you hand them a bag full

of gifts. >> reporter: officers acknowledge this toy give away is a good way to end a bad year. >> people focus on the negative. look at the crime stats. what this is about is really -- nothing to do with that. >> reporter: officers plan to hand out the bags and will make sure remaining toys get to under privileged children. robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. a tradition today at glide memorial church. >> prime rib! >> the annual holiday prime rib lunrin. -- luncheon. it was donated by the house of prime rib.

david stevenson shows us more. >> reporter: making food to feed thousands of hungry people. >> looks like great food. >> reporter: volunteers cut cakes and mixed bats of stuffing in preparation for tomorrow's dinner. >> there are some people who are less fortunate. it falls upon all of us to help out. >> we always had a lot of volunteers. we had to turn around a few volunteers today. >> reporter: shifts are usually booked solid by the first week of november. officials say the problem lies in what happens after christmas. >> volunteers will drop significantly on the 27th. everyone wants to be here for the holidays and then we have service again, the year starts and no one is able to come. >> we should do it the entire year, particularly during christmas. that is what christmas is

about. to help others. >> reporter: tomorrow 500 will serve 5,000 people, food and smiles this holiday season. in san francisco, david stevenson, ktvu channel 2 news. the last minute rush is on. 7million americans did some christmas shopping today and many are still at it. ktvu's consumer editor tom vacar joins us live from the toys r us. >> reporter: indeed. at this toys r us and every other one in the west, four more shopping hours till christmas. >> reporter: old navy till 7:00 p.m. target 9:00 p.m. toys r us will keep on till 10:00 p.m. tonight. while procrastination is a tradition, there is another shopping driver just as important. >> i am a last minute christmas shopper anyway. there is a lot of good deals

that are available. >> lots of people just want the best deals. they come later on. i like shopping at the last minute. >> reporter: the holiday season got off to a good november. but december was sluggish. so that forced stores to cut prices and extend hours as consumers increased with the fiscal cliff became more cautious but not unfeeling. >> deals right now. more deals after christmas but somebody always has to open a gift at christmas. >> reporter: they had predicted a increase of 3.3%. but it just came out with a prediction of 2.5%, still an

increase. reporting live, consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. a south bay sheet metal shop created a shiny work of art inspired by the holiday season. >> look at this. a 14-foot tall stainless steal christmas tree. >> everybody who sees it is excited. 10 people worked 500 hours to build the statue. at the toy drive outside lefty o'doul's they are hoping for a christmas miracle. we will explain why they need help. >> bad accident on highway 84, but how are the rest of the roads doing? >> back here, rain to talk about for christmas day, when

it starts, when it ends and how much you will see. back here in 10 minutes. look at you guys with your fancy-schmancy u-verse high speed internet. you know, in my day you couldn't just start streaming six ways to sunday. you'd get knocked off. and sometimes, it took a minute to download a song. that's sixty seconds, for crying out loud. we know how long a minute is! sitting, waiting for an album to download. i still have back problems. you're only 14 and a half.

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take a look at this man. he sent us the youtube link to this video. it shows a man stealing a package off of his door step tuesday. we received a lot of these videos. if you recognize the man or the car please call the san jose police department. nurses are on the picket line at 9 bay area hospitals. the strike stems from dispute with sutter health and hca healthcare over health benefits, sick pay and staffing levels. >> we are working under the old

contract but we feel they should come back and negotiate with us. >> a spokesperson said the nurses decided to strike after agreeing to meet with the media. replacement nurses have been hired. the final stretch for holiday travel. let's look outside to see how the roads are holding up. we have seen backups tonight. looking now at the bay bridge toll plaza. a small back up there. people going through the toll plaza lane. here is a look at the east shore freeway. here you can see the tail lights are heading away from san francisco, heading on interstate 80. those cars are moving faster than they were when we looked at this 45 minutes ago. it was grid lock then. traffic is moving better right

now. it will be a white christmas for those spending the holiday in the sierra. several inches of snow have fallen and more is expected. a winter storm watch is in effect for tomorrow afternoon. tomorrow morning is the best time to go. san francisco international airport was busy but no major problems. a long line in terminal 2. they expect 2 million travelers through sfo this season. 120,000 are expected today. get there early during the holiday season to deal with the parking and the long lines. some people are tracking santa claus. santa has started zipping around to deliver gifts to millions of children. his plans are qualified but

volunteers predict that no woes will keep him. his movements are tracking him at norad. they will keep updated through 2:00 a.m. pacific time. they have been tracking santa claus for the past 57 years. we don't need to track santa to find holiday cheer. there are plenty of helpers at lefty o'doul's in san francisco. ktvu's ann rubin is live there and when we talked at 5:00 p.m. they were still short on toys. how are things now? >> reporter: they are still about 10,000 toys short of where they want to be. but for the last minute shoppers this is a last minute toy drive. organizers say there is plenty of time to fill these barrels. the trouble, there has been fewer donations than usual. they received half the amount

they had last year. they are still hoping to collect 15,000 toys but they will need more help. lefty o'doul's served as a collection point for the firefighters for the last 12 years. organizers want to make sure no child is forgotten. people can walk up, drive up or call and they will pick the toys up for free. >> i always believe in giving back. this is the time. we decided to give back. >> we decided to get a few things to help fill the barrels for the young kids. >> reporter: there is still time to donate. santa is out here, firefighters are out here and volunteers in front of lefty o'doul's collecting toys till 2:00 a.m. live in san francisco, ann rubin, ktvu channel 2 news. and we got clouds out there

right now. sprinkles around this area. right now you see lots of clouds. the clouds are going to be there all night. we will see the fog start to set up. valley fog is the main weather player for christmas morning. these showers by the afternoon will work their way into the mix. here is the system. those are the high clouds. that system will be later in the afternoon. today was a nice dry day. but it has been a wet period, 160% of rainfall average. whatever rain we get tomorrow, you know, it triggers hillside sliding. we have had a break but maybe not enough to drain the soil.

the forecast tomorrow morning, showers north. cloudy. showers moving into santa rosa, 2:00, 3:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m., it rolls through the bay area. half inch in the heavier locations. inch in the coast hills but -- coastal hills but nothing like yesterday. clearing out on wednesday -- or thursday and friday. that ushers back in the fog. highs tomorrow, 53 concord. 54 oakland. start off cool and end up in the low 50s. starts raining at 2:00 p.m. in the north bay and works its way south. 55 morgan hill. 55 san jose. five-day forecast with your bay area weekend in view, the main event is in the afternoon.

in the morning it is dry. in the afternoon the showers begin, the rain. the story is the mountain travel. up in the mountains. snow levels down there and savored out and about. >> a lot -- and everybody is out and about. story that will make you hungry, a tasty tradition in the south bay. ♪

because we know how much you do to make the holidays just right. from ornaments to ottomans, memories are made with ikea.

hundreds of people turned out in san jose for a last minute chance to gret a christmas treat -- get a christmas treat. the line at the tamale factory stretched down the block. making tamales is time kuchar and men -- time cumer and many -- consuming and many people prefer to leave the cooking for someone else. jim harbaugh was officially a 49er after turning 49 years old yesterday. seattle handed him a bad gift, too. the worse lost in his coaching

career. 49ers played without justin smith who is working on his injury. davis left the game with a concussion. manningham gets twisted and tackled. while the mri results are not in his knee looks bad. today jim harbaugh went into coach speak mode. >> i don't think anybody looks back on this and, you know, feels like, you know, it was good enough. >> they had success in -- in different areas. we will move forward. no explanations, no excuses. >> we will reorganized, regroup. >> thank you, coach. >> raiders announced carson palmer will miss sunday in san diego. yesterday in carolina he suffered cracked ribbed and a

bruised rib. expect liner and prior to share the quarterback duties sunday ed. and one day -- sunday. and one day after they clinched, chuck pagano returned to work. he missed three months for treatment for leukemia. he has been an inspiration. >> when i asked bruce to takeover, i said you got to kick some you know what and do great. but you had to go win 9 games? [ laughter ] >> tough act to follow. tough act to follow. >> colts were 2-14 last year. they are 10-5 this season. while he was out they had that motto, chuck strong. inspired by his diligence fighting through leukemia and doesn't hurt to have andrew luck as your quarterback. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> tomorrow right here on ktvu

we will bring you holiday in focus. >> a chance to see some beautiful, impressive holiday stories told by our team of photographers. you can see it tomorrow at noon, on ktvu. thank you so much for trusting ktvu channel 2 news. have a great night. well, well, well.